


Through the Glass

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: Back in Black [3]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Michelle, Gen, Humor, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, POV Peter Parker, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 22:55:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13844751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Mandla wrinkles his nose, “You areleaving? And to go toAmerica? Why?” he asks.Because he knew all about Wakanda- he’s lived here his whole life- and he knew he’d eventually be stuck here his whole life so he wanted to do something new.





	Through the Glass

**Author's Note:**

> What even is this? Good question, I don't know either. But its kind of funny and I wanted to write more of this verse so. I should be sleeping but instead I'm writing about Peter Parker being braindead in the morning. Tony was supposed to be in this but is he? Nope. T'Challa was supposed to make an appearance as well but did he? Nope. Why? Reasons.
> 
> Tata= father in Xhosa as well.
> 
> ALSO- Mandla is M'Baku's brother's name in the comics and he died, so I adopted this touch of canon and M'Baku's son is named after his brother, I didn't just whip that name out of my ass.

Mandla looks unimpressed and Jakarra sighs, “why are you looking at me like that? I brought you peaches,” he reminds him. The Jabari, apparently, didn’t have peaches and that was a shame so Jakarra brought him some and they were juicy too. He couldn’t simply let Mandla suffer without the knowledge of how peaches tasted- it was just offensive.

“You brought me peaches and then told me you were leaving the country. You’ve ruined the peaches by _leaving_ me here,” he says, clearly offended.

“Well if you don’t want the peaches…” he starts, reaching out to the basket but Mandla pulls them away from him.

“Sour is still good, leave them here,” he says. “But you are _leaving_? And to go to _America_? Why?” he asks.

Because he knew all about Wakanda- he’s lived here his whole life- and he knew he’d eventually be stuck here his whole life so he wanted to do something new. That and despite knowing a fair amount about his father’s background he’s never actually had any meaningful contact with it. It felt fair to him to explore the technical American heritage he had and nothing was better than American fast food. America had many problems but their willingness to deep-fry anything was not one of them. “I’m going because I want to see something new and interesting before I get stuck here for the rest of my life,” he says, gesturing around the small cave they were currently in. “Well okay not here specifically but you get what I mean. Wakanda generally.”

Mandla wrinkles his nose, “why would you want to go anywhere else? Wakanda is your home,” he says.

Wakanda was his home yes, but home was only comfortable if you had no desire to leave and he’s always wanted to go somewhere else, to travel. And not those irritating excursions Tata took him on in which he was expected to be a proper politician’s kid. He claimed it was easier to build his reputation that way but after the time he terrorized the president of Nigeria Tata decided maybe leaving him at home was better for his reputation than dragging him around. “I want an adventure, Mandla, and I already know what Wakanda looks like. Including Jabari lands,” he adds, grinning. Mandla rolls his eyes at him and tosses a peach pit at Jakarra’s head.

“You keep your mouth shut about that, I could be exiled for inviting you in,” he says.

Jakarra laughs, “it’s a bit late for that,” he says and Mandla throws another peach pit at him. “Oh come on, like you didn’t brag about sneaking into the vibranium mountain! I _know_ you did, it is cool in there and I would totally brag. To be fair no one but my three closest friends believed me anyways,” he says. Though these days he knew too much about Jabari culture to have anything less than personal experience with it. He knew things about their cities, technology, and traditions that no one else would have the opportunity to know unless they spoke to the Jabari. No one did- his father was the first king to enter Jabari lands in centuries and it was only to retrieve him and leave.

Mandla laughs, “my friends believed me but they called me stupid and irresponsible and told me not to go sneaking into lands I had no business in. Naturally I told them I managed to sneak in again the next week,” he says and Jakarra snorts, shaking his head. Typical- always pushing the limits, testing to see how far he could get before it backfired on him. Mandla was like Jakarra that way, but he also knew when to be cautious and Jakarra was reliably informed by his Tata that he didn’t have that same sense of where to stop. He supposed with all his exposure to his aunt and his father he came by it honestly- they weren’t fond of limits either and often sought to break them.

“Well, I hope your visit was worth it. We almost got busted,” he says, remembering Shuri discovering him in her lab poking around at things but he feigned innocence and rattled off some design idea he’d been fake thinking about before he managed to scurry off, retrieving Mandla from the closet he shoved the poor guy in and running him back up to the mountains. Mandla was horrified and _refused_ to go back down the mountains but Jakarra was confident in his abilities to get out of any situation he got himself in to. He did it all the time- this would be nothing new to him. Mandla, however, had a much higher sense of self-preservation.

“It was pretty, but not worth the war it could have started,” Mandla says but Jakarra waves him off.

“I doubt Tata would start a war over something stupid that I did. It wouldn’t be the first time I accidentally ruffled some feathers,” he says, wincing a little as he remembered that one time with the boarder tribe. He got stuck working with those rhinos for _weeks_ to make up for it.

Mandla shakes his head, “you are too impulsive, it’s going to get you killed. Which apparently isn’t hard for black men in America- even _we’ve_ got news of what happens there,” he says. The worry is high on his features but Jakarra shakes his head.

“Yeah America has a race… _thing_ but I doubt that I, a recognizable face to most anyone in the world, will get _shot_. That would be rather stupid on the shooter’s behalf. And you claim _I’m_ impulsive, imagine how little foresight you’d have to possess to shoot a prince,” he reasons, shrugging. Whatever America’s problem with race- and it seemed obvious they had a problem with it- he doubted he would feel the brunt of it. His status as prince has protected him his whole life, giving him a privileged position that Tata made sure he was thankful to have and he doubted being in America would suddenly pull all that away.

That doesn’t seem to make Mandla feel better though if the worry on his friend’s face was any indication. “You are naïve,” he says.

“Or you are the sheltered one. I have access to the outside world, Mandla; all you have is news you pick up from whispers around the mountain. Realistically who do you think has the clearer picture?” he asks though he doesn’t ask to be rude. It was a reasonable statement to say his experience with the world taught him things Mandla didn’t have access to.

“For your sake I hope you’re right. But you have a habit of only seeing what you like to,” he says, sighing. “But it did mean your stupid ass kept coming back here to torment me with your heinously designed blanket patterns and ridiculous technologies. Eventually it led to peaches so putting up with you paid off eventually,” Mandla says, snatching a peach out of the basket Jakarra brought to him.

Jakarra rolls his eyes but laughs, “yeah, yeah, you Jabari are basically the Amish,” he says, drawing a confused look from Mandla that really only proves him right.

Eventually he has to go though so he gathers his things, including one of his so called ‘blankets’ as Mandla liked to call them fashioned with Jabari cloth on the underside. It made getting off the mountain easier when he could blend in with the surroundings. It was also convenient to flip it over and drape it over his shoulders like he normally would, colors facing out while the more flat Jabari coloring was hidden underneath. His idea, but Mandla agreed that it was brilliant and of course it was, he was the one who thought of it.

When he goes to make his way through the snow though Mandla sticks his head out of the small cave opening, “hey,” he says, causing Jakarra to turn. “I hate you!” he calls and Jakarra smiles, turning back around.

“I hate you too,” he calls back, waving his hand around behind him just like they’ve been doing since the first time they met properly.

*

He debates on it for some time but eventually Jakarra sneaks his way back up the mountain because he had to at least give Mandla a proper good bye. He wasn’t entirely sure when he’d be back, at least not to see Mandla, and he had a present for him. When he gets there Mandla is waiting in their usual spot and he frowns, surprised to find him there.

“I have been waiting here for your stupid ass _all day_ and you decide to come at _night_?” Mandla tells him, shaking his head in mock offense.

It’s the white fur that’s around his shoulders that catches Jakarra’s attention though, “is that white gorilla fur?” he asks, surprised to find it on Mandla’s shoulders.

He looks behind them, lifting a hand to the fur carefully, like he was afraid all the hair would fall off if he touched it wrong. “Yes- I finally earned it nearly falling off the mountain side but I saved the fish,” he says proudly. Jakarra was sure there was a whole story there and he would ask when he had time, but for now he leaves it.

“Congratulations,” he says softly. “I um… almost didn’t come, but I wanted to say good bye,” he adds, looking at the ground.

“I know. But you’re shivering so get inside,” Mandla tells him, moving out of the way so Jakarra could step into the small cave area. He does so thankfully because the Jabari might be used to the cold but he certainly wasn’t. The rest of Wakanda is hot but the mountain regions were covered in snow- something he still wasn’t used to. “You’ve been coming here for years, you would think you would learn how to dress for the snow. America has snow,” he adds.

So Jakarra knew, he’s only been warned by literally everyone. “I’m sure I’ll manage,” he says, “I always do.”

Mandla snorts, “usually by making a mess out of things and somehow figuring out how to fix it all in the end,” he says.

“Isn’t that what everyone does?” he asks

“Not like you,” Mandla says, “you make it an art form. Remember the rhinos?” he asks.

Unfortunately he remembered that and he give Mandla a dirty look for brining it up. “You get your gorilla fur and now you think you can bring up the rhinos. It was _one_ time,” he mumbles.

“Well you screwed that up pretty spectacularly,” Mandla points out.

“And it was _fine_ , I worked it out like always, no harm done and I didn’t actually lose five rhinos. I don’t see why everyone was so upset about it,” he says, waving a hand around.

“Probably because you briefly lost five rhinos,” Mandla points out.

“And found them all again unharmed, how was I supposed to know they would wander? They were only in that town because they were all hurt in some way and needed rehabilitation, I didn’t think they’d go off and _do_ things and I found them all and got them back to where they needed to be safe and sound. But no, I had to deal with those rhinos for _weeks_ before anyone would even think of forgetting that.” He loses rhinos and his punishment was to work with rhinos? That made no sense to him but the animals were adorable and he had several cool pictures of them hanging on his walls so he guessed he won there.

“It was irresponsible,” Mandla says.

“I was tired and didn’t realize the gate was open, a man needs sleep,” he says, shrugging.

“Preferably not when watching rhinos. I think you will die in America- you dislike snow and you can’t even handle hurt rhinos that can’t wander far without it going wrong. You should stay,” he says.

Jakarra sighs, “I am leaving in like five hours, its too late to stay,” he reasons.

Mandla’s eyes practically bug out of his head, “it is a two hour hike off this mountain and at _least_ another hour to get to the airport from where you live, what are you doing here?” he asks.

“Saying good bye. I have time and even if I was late, the plane will wait,” he says, unconcerned.

Mandla presses his fingers to his temples, “if you were Jabari you would never earn your fur. Go home Jakarra, or you will be late and I refuse to be the reason you made an entire group of people wait for you to grace them with your presence so they could deposit you in _America_ ,” he says, saying the country’s name with unearned distaste. America wasn’t so bad, he’s been there many times and it was fine, he had no idea why everyone was so worried about it.

“Fine, but I have a present for you before I go,” he says, pulling a tablet from a pocket on the side of his scarf. Mandla gives it an immediate look of distaste and Jakarra sighs, “if it makes you feel any better it has no vibranium in it,” he says, familiar with Jabari distaste towards the use of the metal.

Mandla sighs, “you found a loophole,” he says.

“Does that surprise you?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” Mandla says, taking the tablet, “and I still don’t like it, but someone will need to talk you into leaving America once you get there and something tells me the Americans won’t do it for me. Now go before you are late to your flight,” he tells Jakarra, shooing him towards the cave opening.

Jakarra shakes his head, “you won’t manage,” he tells Mandla, “you know I only do what I want.” Something that annoyed his Tata endlessly but it was hardly his fault that people made rules that were stupid.

“I know, and it will be your downfall,” Mandla says. “Either that or you will be the best king Wakanda has ever seen, the jury is still out on that.”

“ _Obviously_ option two,” Jakarra says, “except maybe not the best, Tata will probably hold that place.” He didn’t thin he could figure out how to integrate a country into world politics, deal with starting all sorts of out reach and refugee centers, and deal with the death of a parent all at once _plus_ a new marriage. He couldn’t manage a few limping rhinos let alone all that, but he was sure he could figure out the basic stuff at least.

Mandla shrugs, “he _is_ the first king to visit the Jabari in centuries. Only to pick up his reckless runt of a son, but it kind of counts,” he says.

“I am not a _runt_!” Jakarra says in his own defense even though the comparison was mostly true if it was Mandla he was being compared to. His wiry frame was dwarfed by Mandla’s height and weight, he took after his father that way and Jakarra took after his own. He still resented being called a _runt_.

*

Peter sits in class staring straight ahead at nothing for a solid ten minutes before Ned flies in, throwing himself in his seat with a shocking amount of excitement. “Guess what I saw in the office today?” he asks with enough enthusiasm in his voice that Peter was sure that Carrie Fisher was back from the dead or something.

For several solid seconds he waits for Ned to respond because his brain was slow and he didn’t feel like thinking. “Carrie Fisher?” he guesses when it becomes obvious Ned was actually expecting him to guess.

Across the aisle way Michelle snorts, “Carrie Fisher is dead, doofus, he saw the prince of Wakanda,” she tells him in an unimpressed tone.

Ned looks so offended it was almost funny- Peter might have laughed if it wasn’t so early that being awake should be illegal. “You’re a fun sucker, Michelle,” he tells her, turning to look at Peter like he’ll share in Ned’s offense or his excitement, Peter wasn’t sure. His brain cells were not meant to work this early in the morning.

Michelle rolls her eyes at them both and turns around to face the front of the room while Ned leans forward, still waiting for Peter’s reaction. “What?” Peter asks eventually and Ned finally breaks.

“What do you mean what dude, the prince of _Wakanda_ is here. That’s badass!” he says excitedly.

“Talk to me at noon. I might find his presence exciting then,” he tells Ned. For now his brain was dead to the world and to itself.

“You offend me,” Ned tells him, shaking his head in mock offense while Peter goes back to staring at nothing.

When the class stirs a couple minutes later he assumes class is starting so he blinks himself mostly out of his daze and straightens up, prepared to pretend to learn at this ungodly hour but instead he finds some guy standing at the front of the room grinning. He kicks Ned’s chair, “Ned, who’s the new guy?” he whispers. If it wasn’t Michelle the look she gave him would have been hilarious but since its Michelle her stare of blank disdain with an undertone of shock and disbelief mostly made Peter feel like an idiot.

Ned squints at him, “I literally already told you who that was,” he says.

Peter frowns, “when?”

“Like ten seconds ago, dude! Pay attention,” Ned tells him, waving a hand around in exasperation.

“Um,” Peter mumbles, trying to think back but all he remembered was Carrie Fisher and when he says this out loud Michelle looks at him like he spontaneously turned into a rat.

“You think a sixteen year old black guy is Carrie Fisher?” she deadpans and Peter shrugs.

“They could share a name,” he says in his defense.

Michelle shakes her head, “holy fuck,” she mumbles, laying her head down on her desk in an attempt to process that.

Peter looks to Ned for a defense but he shakes his head, “what the hell, man? That’s the prince of Wakanda,” he says and _that’s_ why he looked familiar.

“Oh. Well Jakarra kind of sounds like Carrie Fisher,” he says and Michelle lifts her head to give him another _look_.

“On _what_ planet?” she asks, squinting at him a little.

He shrugs, “earth,” he says for lack of another planet name on short notice.

She squints a little more, “is the hamster running around on the wheel in your brain dead?” she asks.

“I don’t think there was ever a hamster. Or a wheel,” he says and Michelle lets out a long sigh.

“I believe that,” she mumbles, turning back to her desk again. Peter would have zoned back out but Ned flails, nearly hitting Peter in the face with his hand for no known reason as far as he was concerned. It takes him a solid thirty seconds to notice Jakarra sitting across from him and its only because Michelle turns to face him with a paper in her hand.

“What do you think the sociopolitical implications are of Wakandan out reach centers in black communities are when they have no real idea what the American experience of being a black person is?” she asks. Peter is entirely unsurprised by the question but Jakarra gives her a skeptical once over before holding up his hand.

“No questions, please,” he says and Peter snorts when Michelle gives him _the_ most unimpressed glare. He was going to pay for that later and Peter was almost willing to actually wake up to witness Michelle’s revenge.

Ned shuffles around, nearly falling out of his seat he was leaning so far forward but he catches himself and everyone’s attention. “How did you get so hot when puberty makes us all look like donkey pimples?” he asks. Even Michelle winces at that, exchanging a pained look with Peter. The fact that they were now bonding was a rare experience only shared if someone was more embarrassing than him, which was basically never.

Jakarra grins, “good genetics,” he tells Ned proudly.

Michelle raises an eyebrow, “so you take _his_ questions?” she asks and Peter snorts, ducking his head to cover his laughter.

“You asked about politics and it isn’t even noon, that is oppression,” he says flippantly and Peter lets out a loud noise that’s _kind_ of a laugh but it draws the attention of the entire classroom.

“What the _fuck_ Parker?” someone asks from across the room and Jakarra smiles.

“Nice to meet you, Parker,” he says and Peter winces.

“That’s my last name. My first name is Peter,” he clarifies.

Jakarra frowns, “you have two first names?” he asks.

“Three, his middle name is Benjamin,” Ned adds, taking the opportunity to embarrass Peter because he’s the worst friend on the planet.

“What the hell even was that noise?” Michelle asks him. “It sounded like the devil dry fucked your esophagus,” she says in a dry tone that makes Jakarra _cackle_.

“You should have led with that instead of politics, you’re hilarious,” he tells Michelle. She gives Jakarra an unimpressed look that would make a lesser man shrivel but he remains unaffected. Peter wanted to take a hit off of confidence like that because a mean stare from a puppy made him anxious let alone Michelle staring him down like she was disappointed in his entire family’s lineage.

“You disappoint me,” Michelle tells him.

Jakarra looks unaffected by that too and Peter is immediately convinced this guy is a god in human form or something. “You’re not the first. Too bad I was born to be a politician, I would prefer being the trophy husband. I am cute, not brainy. Actually I’m a genius but I prefer to skate by on my looks, that is much my speed” he says in the same flippant tone he seemed to prefer.

“I wish I could do that but I kind of look like I’ve got a frog in my mouth at all times,” Peter laments. Flash pointed it out once and he couldn’t unsee it. Neither could anyone else for that matter.

This earns him a snort from the prince, “I thought you were supposed to kiss them, not _swallow_ them,” he says, snickering at his own joke.

“You’re supposed to suck and swallow, not kiss and not swallow,” Flash says from behind Jakarra and he turns, giving Flash a slow once over with such a look od distain on his face that Flash actually looks uncomfortable- a feat given that Flash was normally confident in his insulting nature no matter how stupid his comment was.

“We are talking about _frogs_ , heathen,” Jakarra tells him in a swift, confident way that has Flash looking like a confused child. Peter would feel bad for him but he started that stupid penis Parker joke and he’d never forgive him for that. Jakarra turns back to face him, Michelle, and Ned and he rolls his eyes. “Who sucks a frog?” he asks, his voice ringing out as the class falls silent at the most inopportune moment. For a half a second Jakarra looks concerned but he shakes it off fast and lets out a dramatic sigh, “and now _that_ is the first impression everyone has of me, thanks irrelevant person I now dislike,” he says to Flash, giving him a dirty look.

Michelle starts laughing, “Flash sucks frogs,” she says and the whole class dissolves into giggles as Flash adamantly denies ever testing his suction skills on the local amphibians. Peter decides that he likes Jakarra if for no other reason than not immediately melting under Michelle’s unimpressed looks let alone making Flash squirm and, and this was key, not being rude to Ned. So he was a little weird when he was nervous, they all were, including Flash now that he was defending an act he was sure Flash never would have seen himself being accused of.

When the teacher finally arrives he looks on at the ensuing chaos all centered around Jakarra’s dramatic retelling of Flash admitting to his frog sucking crimes and he looks understandably confused.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


End file.
